Cotton cleaner



March 16, 1965 w. E. ROOD, JR 3,

COTTON CLEANER Original Filed Oct. 16. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

/ j WILL/AH E. R000 .115;

Arronueys March 16, 1965 w. E. ROOD, JR 3, 7

COTTON CLEANER Original Filed Oct. 16. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

WILL MM E. 000 JR.

ATTORNEYS March 16, 1965 w, 5. 000, JR 3,173,544

COTTON CLEANER Original Filed Oct. 16, 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. WILL/AM EAROOD JR ATTORNEYS United States Patent ()fiice 3,173,544 Patented Mar. 16, 1965 3,173,544 CQ'ITGN CLEANER William E. Rood, Jr., 1501) S. 7th St., Phoenix, Ariz. Continuation of application Ser. No. 145,109, Oct. 16, 1961, now Patent No. 3,157,285, dated Nov. 1'7, 1964. This application July 1, 1964, Ser. No. 379,680

4 Claims. (Cl. 269-108) This invention pertains to a cotton cleaner, and more specifically, to a cotton cleaning system for separating trash and debris from cotton tufts, and is a continuation of my co-pending patent application Serial No. 145,109, filed October 16, 1961, now Patent No. 3,157,285.

The problem of cleaning cotton has become more acute in recent years especially since the advent of mechanical cotton retrieving wherein down cotton (cotton that has been knocked to the ground during picking operations) may be harvested, thus rendering it commercially feasible to retrieve this formally lost cotton crop. Cotton that has been retrieved from the ground will necessarily con tain a greater proportion of debris and trash than that picked, for example, by hand from the cotton plants.

Heretofore, cotton cleaners used in the prior art have operated on the basic premise that it is necessary to snag or impale cotton tufts to pull the cotton away from, apart from, and out of contact with, dirt and trash. To implement this prior art concept, prior art cleaners generally utilize circular saws to tear apart cotton tufts and thereby release the fibers of the cotton from dirt and trash. These prior art approaches to the problem of cotton cleaning tear the cotton fibers thus damaging the cotton and shortening the fiber length and resulting in less desirable cleaned cotton. The present invention is intended to clean cotton tufts in a thorough and reliable manner while nevertheless treating the cotton gently without irnpaling or snagging the cotton (and thereby damaging the tufts) as it is being cleaned.

It is therefore and object of the present invention to provide a cotton cleaner that will gently and reliably clean cotton tufts and separate trash or debris from the cotton.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a cotton cleaner that does not dam-age the cotton by impaling or tearing the cotton tufts while they are being cleaned.

It is still another object of the present invention to clean cotton tufts by grasping the individual tufts and transporting them in such a manner that the dirt and debris accompanying the tuft or adhering thereto is forced tangentially away from a grasping belt as the belt bends over a roller or drum.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.

Briefly, in accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, a gripping belt, that may be of the type shown and claimed in the United States Patent to William E. Rood, in, et al., dated March 2, 1954, No. 2,670,584, is used to grasp cotton tufts; as the gripping belt passes over a drum and initiates its gripping action on the cotton tufts, the cotton, and any foreign material such as trash, is fed to the belt and is accelerated by having motion imparted thereto in a direction tangential to the gripping belt as the belt passes over the drum. Since the gripping belt readily grasps cotton tufts, and since trash and other debris is not readily grasped by the belt, trash and debris are thrown tangentially away from the belt and drum while the cotton is transported away from the trash.

The present invention may best be described by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a device conand structed in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus of FIG- URE 1 showing a means for driving the respective drums and belts of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a View showing one of the gripping belts utilized in the apparatus of FlGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an alternative embodiment of the present invention.

FIGURE 5 is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view of a complete cotton cleaner implementing the embodiments of FIG- URES 4 and 5.

The embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 includes a case 2 having side plates 3 and 4 and a top closure 5. The bottom is open as herewith illustrated.

Within the case there are a plurality of rollers 10 and 11, 12 and 13, 14 and 15, 16 and 17, 18 and 19, all journalled on centrally disposed axles 20 which are journalled at each end in the respective side plates 3 and 4 of the case 2. These rollers operate in vertically disposed pairs. Each pair of rollers supports a transversely slotted belt shown in FIGURE 1 as belts 22, 35, 50, 6t), 7t) and 81 respectively. The belt-s, shown in FIGURE 3, are identical and operate by running over the various rollers in much the same manner. These belts may be of the type described and claimed in the patent to William E. Rood, Jr., et 211., dated March 2, 1954, No. 2,670,584. The lower pair of rollers 25, and belt 22, operate to pick up tufts of cotton 26 from the plain non-gripping flexible feed belt 27. This feed belt runs transversely of the body 2 near its bottom. Cotton is fed onto belt 27 from any convenient means such as chute 28. As the conveyor belt 27 passes under the bend 29 of the first pickup belt 22, it is bent at 30 by roller 11 pressing down on its upper side and the roller 31 pressing upward on the under side of belt 27 at a point just beyond the center of roller 10. This arrangement of rollers and belts places a definite bend 30 in conveyor belt 27 and presses it against the outer surface of pickup belt 22. The motion of the feed belt imparts a velocity to any trash, such as stems, sticks and leaves of cotton plants that may be picked up with the cotton tufts 26 as they are fed into the machine; this velocity is tangential to the belt 22 as it travels over the drum or roller 10.

At the same time the transverse cuts or slots in belt 22 open as they travel around lowest roller 10. Fibers from the tufts 26 of cotton fed into the machine are then clamped or grasped by the sides of the transverse cuts or slots in the flexible gripping belt or pickup belt 22 and, as the pickup belt leaves the contact area 30 with conveyor belt 27, the slots again close as the pickup belt moves to the vertical portion 33 of its travel. This vertical portion may be termed the inner lay of the pickup belt. While cotton tufts 26 are easily transferred from conveyor belt 27 to pickup belt 22, trash stems and sticks are not readily grasped by the belts, and are ejected from the contact area, and are thrown tangentially relative to the lower bend of pickup belts 22 around roller 10. This trash 123 rides outward on belt 27.

As the slots close they clamp onto tufts 26a of cotton so that the tufts are carried vertically on belt 22 and are not released until this belt runs over roller 11 at the top of its travel.

At the top of its travel, belt 22 moves to a position so that it will be substantially in contact with belt 35, which is positioned above and to the right of pickup belt 22. Belt 35, being constructed in the same way as belt 22, has transverse slots which open as it goes around 3 its lower supporting roller 13. These slots, marked 36, in FIGURE 1, tend to receive the fibers of tufts 26a of cotton and grasp them as the belt 35 moves to its outer lay 38. Trash adhering to the cotton tufts'and trash carried by the belt 22 have imparted thereto a velocity tangential to the belt 35 as belt 38 travels over roller 13. The cotton tufts are easily transferred from belt 32 to belt 35; however, the trash is thrown tangentially away from the roller 13 and belt 35. As-belt 35 moves. to the position of its outer lay, the tufts-are grasped bytheir fibers and subjected to a brushing action by the rotary brush 40, thus they are grasped on one side and brushed on the opposite side, and are then carried upward to the 4 belt 27 is driven by roller 120. and runs over rollers 121 and 122 and is at the same time tightened and presse outward by roller 31, as above explained.

i As a result of the foregoing, cotton tufts entering from chute 28 are picked upby belt 22 and the other belts,

previously mentioned, positioned above it, and carried to thetop most belt 8! and deposited on the grid basket another. .Sticks, dirt, and other trash. drop onto the upper bend 41 of belt 35. At the bend 41 they are released when the belt runs over upper roller 12. At the point of contact between the upper bend '41 and the next adjacent belt 50, the tufts are released by belt and picked up by the transverse slotsin belt 50. It will be noted that belt is running in a counter-clockwise direction and that tufts of cotton, after leaving the point of contact at 51, are then carried upward-on the inner lay 52 of this belt and are contacted by and brushed on the opposite side by the rotary brush 53. Note that the brush 53 operates also in a counter-clockwise direction to brush off and remove dirt and broken pieces of leaves, stems and the like. The tufts 26b are then transferred to the next belt at the contact area 61.

noted that belt 60 moves in a clockwise direction. The

It is to be tufts are then subjected to a beating action by the squareshaped rotary beater 62 which rotates in a clockwise direction. This beats the left side of all tufts grasped by the transverse slots in belt 60.

Tufts 26c are then transferred to the next higher belt which runs in a counter-clockwise direction andare conveyed upward and past the rotary square beater 71 which operates in a counter-clockwise direction.

Lastly, the tufts marked 26d, are'conveyed to the top most pickup 'belt of this set of pickup belts, which is marked 80. The beltoperates in a clockwise direction and carries the tufts by brush 81 on its outer lay 82'.

The tufts 26d are then released'into' the basket 85 as the belt goes over the top 'roller- 18 and the slots open. 7

At each transfer of the'cotton tufts from one gripping or pickup belt to the next, the'tangential' motion imparted by the preceding belt causes trash carried withthe cotton tufts to bethrown away from the cotton.

From the basket $5 the tufts are carried'by scrapers'86 on the conveyor chain 87, running over sprockets 88'.

The cotton tufts now shown as 266, are scraped upward;

on the grill-like bottom 89 of basket and carried to a place of deposit marked '90, which is outside of the to a pulley 107 near the bottom of the case. a

to be thrown away from the respective belts.

outer end of conveyor belt 27 and are deposited at 123 on a chute leading outside of case 2. Trash that drops off the front side of the various beltsdrops onto conveyor belt 115 and is carried out of the machine on the right end of this belt at 124. r a

As a result of this action, only tufts of cleaned cotton are deposited in bin 99; The brushing and beating action of the various rotary brushes and rotary beaters tends to loosen and remove all'trashy material and bits of stems and leaves that may have been mixed in with the cotton 28, and th tangential motion imparted to the cotton and trash forces material not grasped by the succeeding belt This material is deposited at 123 and 124 and the clean cotton separated, as above-explained, is deposited at 90.

It may be noted that the successively upwardly disposed belts need not actually be in direct contact. It has been found that a small space between adjacent belts may actually be helpful provided the space is small enough for the upper belt to grasp the cotton tuft as it is released by the lower belt. It may thus be seen that each gripping belt, or pickup belt acts as a slinger as it releases cotton tufts to the nextr succeeding belt; that is, each belt provides a means for throwing trash tangentially away from the succeeding belt as the succeeding belt' travels over the corresponding drum or roller.

' Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in'FIGURE 4. Referring to FIGURE 4, slotted belts 150, 151', and 152 of the type described'in connection WithFIGURE 2 are arranged as shown. The belt 150 carried cotton tufts 155 and trash upwardly as indicated bythe arrow "156- As the belt passes over the drum or roller 158, the'slots therein open and release the cotton tufts 155. Along with the cotton tufts, a certain amount of trashandrubbish is carriedby the belt and by the tufts themselves. All of the material is deposited at the junction of belt 151 and a slinger roller 161. The belt 151 is journalled'over rollers 162 and 163 and is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow'164. As the belt 151 passes over the roller 162, the slots therein'open 'and subsequently close to grasp the cotton tufts 155.

'151 as the belt 151 passes over the roller 162.; Since cotton tufts 155 are readily grasped by the belt 151,'and

Since the chain goes between the various sprockets on the ends of the shafts of the various rollers, the desired direction of rotation is attained. Small chains llfl run over sprockets just behind the sprockets which are on the ends of the roller shafts, these sprockets being indicated by 111 and operate the chains, such as to turn sprockets 112 on shafts which support the various brushes,

such as 40, '53 and beaters, such as 62 and 71;. All these I parts move atthe same time. 7 t V V In addition to the foregoing, altrash removal canvas belt 115, runs over rollers 114 and 116 which are con-' nected by pulleys 117 and 118 to a belt 119.-- In this way the belt is driven from pulley 118 which is,'in turn, driven by. a sprocket and chain 103. This is the belt which is driven by motor 104. At the same time the feed since trash isnot' readily grasped by the belt 151, the tangential velocity imparted-to the .trash and cotton tufts by the slingerg roller 161 causes all material to FIGURE 1. Therfunction of the roller 161 as a slinger provides the, same type of action and operates Within the same concept as the'conveyor of FIGURE 1. The slinger rollerlmay be constructed of any'rigidmaterial such as mild steel and, in son-ie instances, maybe cov- .ered with a soft resilient coating such asrubber; The soft covering on the roller permits green cotton bolls to pass through the cleaner without being crushed and thus becoming difficult to remove from the cotton. Similarly, trash that is very brittle and has a tendency to break into minute pieces and become entangled with the cotton may be permitted to pass through the slinger rollerpickup belt area and be tangentially thrown away from the cotton without breaking.

The belt 152 rides on rollers 175 and 176 and travels in the direction indicated by the arrow 177. As the belt rides over the roller 176, the slots therein open and close'to grasp cotton tufts 155 as they are released by the belt 151. Thus, the transfer of the cotton tufts from the belt 151 to the belt 152 operates to clean the cotton tufts in a manner similar to that discussed in connection with the adjacent gripping belts of FIGURE 1. The motion imparted to the cotton tufts by the belt 151 is tangential to the belt 152 as the belt 152 passes over the roller 176; thus, any tnash or debris adhering to the belt 151 or to the cotton tufts 155 is directed upwardly away from the belt 152 and tangentially from the belt 152 as it passes over the drum 176. The cleaned cotton tufts are then transported by the belt 152 and discharged as the belt passes over drum 175 and may be retrieved by catching the tufts in a basket having adjacent scrappers and conveyor chain similar to that discussed in connection with FIGURE 1.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGURE 5. Referring to FIGURE 5, a slotted pickup belt of the type shown in FIGURE 3 is mounted over a drum 181. Cotton tufts 182 are transported upwardly on the lower lay of the belt 180 and discharged as the belt passes over the drum 181. A nongripping flexible conveyor belt 185 is mounted over drums 186 and 187. As the cotton tufts 182 are discharged from the belt 180, they fall upon the conveyor belt 185 and are conveyed in the direction indicated by the arrow 189 to the vicinity of a pickup belt 190. The pickup belt 190 is mounted over drums 191 and 192 which are positioned relative to the conveyor belt 185 so that as the belt 190 passes over the roller 191, the slots provided in the belt grasp the cotton tufts carried by the conveyor 185. The conveyor 185 thereby imparts a velocity to the cotton tufts, and corresponding trash, that is tangential to the gripping belt 190 as the belt 190 passes over the drum 191. Since the cotton tufts are readily grasped by the belt 190, the cotton tufts are carried upwardly as shown in FIGURE 5 by the belt 190 and the trash is thrown tangentially away from the belt 190 in a direction generally indicated in FIGURE 5 by the arrow 188. The contact between the conveyor belt 185 and the gripping belt 190 may be a very light contact to enable the belt 190 to more thoroughly differentiate between fibrous cotton tufts and non-fibrous trash. In other words, the slots provided in the belt 190 in the embodiment shown in FIGURE 5 may be very shallow slots so that as the belt passes over the. drum 198 the opening provided by the slots is very small. The minute fibers of the cotton tufts will nevertheless readily be grasped by the relatively small slits or traverse slots provided in the belt 190; whereas, trash and other debris not having stray fibers cannot sufiiciently protrude into the fine slots to be grasped thereby. The use of light pressure between the conveyor belt and the pickup belt also yields the advantages enumerated above in connection with the soft resilient coating on the slinger roller. Alternatively to the very light contact between the conveyor belt 185 and the gripping belt 190, a very firm or high pressure contact may be used as suggested by the embodiment shown in FIGURE 1 wherein a roller is utilized to supplement the contact pressure between the conveyor and the gripping belt. By using a higher pressure contact between the conveyor and the gripping belt, an even finer slot or transverse cut may be used in the belt 190. The belt 190 may actually be constructed using a very large number of closely-spaced and very fine transverse cuts that are almost imperceptible to the naked eye. The fibrous nature of the cotton tufts coming in contact with a belt 190 constructed with very fine cuts will nevertheless be grasped by the fine cuts since it is only necessary for the belt to grasp a single fiber of the tuft to transport the cotton. The trash normally accompanying cotton tufts is not of a fibrous nature and does not have fine threads that will normally be grasped by such very fine transverse slots.

The belt 190 transports the cotton tufts upwardly and discharges the cotton as it passes over the drum 192. As the cotton tufts are released by the belt 190 a second gripping belt 195 grasps the tufts as it passes over drum 196. The cotton is thus transported upwardly in a direction indicated by the arrow 197 and is discharged by the belt 195 as the latter passes over drum 198. The cotton may thus be collected by using a basket 85, conveyor chain 87 running over sprockets 88 in a manner similar to that discussed in connection with FIGURE 1. The embodiment shown in FIGURE 5 utilizes the concept of imparting tangential velocity to cotton tufts and accompanying trash .at a point of transfer between a gripping belt and a velocity-imparting means or slinger means; trash is thrown clear of belt 190 by the .tangential velocity of the trash and cotton tufts imparted by the conveyor belt and by the tangential velocity imparted to the cotton tufts and trash by the belt as the belt 190 releases the cotton tufts and the belt grasps the tufts.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGURE 6. Referring to FIGURE 6, a slotted pickup or gripping belt 2% is shown mounted over a drum 201. As the belt 200 carries cotton tufts 262 upwardly it discharges the tufts onto a conveyor belt 205 which is mounted over drums 2136 and 207 and is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow 208. The conveyor belt 285 imparts a tangential velocity to the cotton tufts and accompanying trash as the tufts and trash are transferred to a slotted belt 210 mounted over rollers 211 and 212. The belt 210 transfers the cotton tufts to a second slotted belt 228 which, in turn, is mounted over drums 221 and 222. Thus far, it may be seen that the embodiment shown in FIGURE 6 is identical to the embodiment shown in FIGURE 5; however, as the belt 220 discharges the cotton tufts, they are swept from the belt 228 as the belt passes over the drum 222 by a paddle wheel or beater 225. The beater may comprise a drum having radially-extending paddles 226 that contact the cotton and force the cotton against a grill work composed of spaced-apart metal rods 227. The beater is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow 230 and actually strikes the cotton tufts to jar trash adhering thereto out through the grill work. As the cotton tufts are discharged from the beater, they encounter a slinger drum 248 and a slotted gripping belt 241, the latter being mounted over drums 242 and 243. The slinger drum 24o imparts a tangential velocity to the cotton tufts, and whatever trash may remain therewith, so that the trash is forced tangentially of the belt 241 as the belt passes over the drum 242. The tangential motion imparted to the cotton and the trash cleans the cotton in the manner described in connection with the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4. As the cotton is transported by the belt 241, it is discharged as the belt passes over the drum 243 onto a basket 85 and is thereafter collected by the basket 85, chain 87, and sprocket 88 arrangement in a manner described in connection with FIGURE 1. The embodiment shown in FIGURE 6 thus represents a complete cotton cleaning operation that implements the concept of the present invention of imparting a tangential velocity to cotton and trash as it is transferred to a cotton pickup belt. The cleaner shown in FIGURE 6 thus implements the concept of imparting a velocity to cotton and trash, in a direction tangential to cotton of the same trash-free condition.

7 cotton tufts, comprisingz.

7 a pickup belt as a pickup belt passes over a drum, and further utilizes that concept as represented in the embodirnents of transferring cotton tufts from one gripping belt to another and the utilization-of a slingerroller. Whether a slotted belt, a conveyor belt, or a roller is utilized, the conceptis still essentially the same since the device, which may be called a slinger means, imparts the necessary tangential velocity to. the cotton and trash as the gripping belt is grasping the. cotton. It has been found that the tangential velocity imparted to the cotton and trash is responsible for substantially more cleaning than would normally be considered attributable to the velocity of the material; however,: the cotton may be treated much more gently by cleaning the cotton in accordance with the teachings of the present invention since fewer brushings or beatings becomenecessary to achieve The embodiments shown in FIGURES 4, and 6 may be mounted on a framework similar to the case and side plates of the embodiment shown in FIGURES 1 and 2; similarly, all of the embodimentsshown may be mounted on appropriate portable equipment .so that the cotton being cleaned by the system of the present'invention may be cleaned as the cotton is being picked or retrieved in the field. 7

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications maybe made in the present invention with- V out departingfrorn the spirit and scope thereof; accord ingly, it is intended that the present invention be limited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

' I claim: v

1. A cotton cleaning system, for separating trashfrom (a) a first and a' second drum V (b) a flexible gripping belt, mounted over said'drurns,

of the type having transverse slots therein,, said transverse slots adapted to open as said belt travels 7 over said drums and to close as said belt travels between said drums for grasping said cotton tufts as the belt passes over said first drum, holding said cotton tufts, and releasing said cotton tufts as the belt passes over said second drum,

(c) mean, other than said belt, rotating at least one of said drums,

(d) a third drum adjacent said. belt at a position radially of said first drum and having an axis parallel to the axis'of said first drum, and V (2) means rotating said third drum toimpart velocity to said cotton tufts and trash in a direction tangential to said first drum as said tufts and trash contact said belt passing over said first drum and'said belt grasps saidi cotton tufts:

2. A cotton cleaning system, for cotton tufts, comprising: I (a) a first and a second drum,

(b) a flexible gripping belt mounted over, saiddrums V for grasping s'aid'cotton tufts as the belt passesover said first drum, holding said cotton tufts, and releas;

ing said cotton tufts as the belt passes over said second drum,

radially of said first drum and having an axis parallel to the axis of said first drum, and

separating trashfrom V V v 9 (c) means, other than 'saidrbelt, rotating at least one (e) means rotating'said third drum to impart velocity to'said cotton tufts and trash in a direction tangential' to said first drum as said tufts andrtrash con tact said belt'passingover ,saidfirst drum and said belt grasps said cotton tufts;

- 3. A cotton cleaning system, for separating cotton tufts,, comprising;

(a) a first and a second drum, V g

(b) a flexible gripping belt'mounted over said drum for grasping said cotton tufts as the belt passes over said first drum, holding said cotton tufts, and releasing said cotton tufts as'the belt passes over said second drum, j

(c) means rotating, at least one of said drums,

(d) a third'and'a'fourth drum,

(e) .a second flexible gripping belt mounted over said third and fourth drums for grasping cotton tufts as the second belt passesover said third drum, holding said cotton tufts,1 and releasing said cotton tufts as the second belt passes over said fourth drum,

' (f) said fourth drum positioned relative to said first drum to enable said first belt to grasp cotton tufts as said tufts are released by said second belt, and

(g) means driving said second belt to impart velocity to said cotton tufts in a direction tangential to said first belt as it passes over said firstdrum and grasps said cotton tufts. v

4. A cotton cleaning system, for separating trash from cotton tufts, comprising: I

(a) a first "and a second 'drum," I

(b) a flexible gripping belt, mounted over said drums, of the, type having transverse slots therein, said trhnsverseslots adapted to open as'said belt travels over said drums and to close as said belt travels between said, drums for grasping saidcotton tufts as the belt passes over'said first drum,- holding said cotton tufts, and releasing said cotton tufts as the a belt passes over 'said second drum,

(0) means rotating at least one of said drums,

(d) a third and a'fourth drum, ,7

- (e) a second flexible gripping belt mounted over said third and fourth" drums, of the type having transverse. slots therein, said transverse slots-adapted to open as said second belt travels over said third and fourth drums and to close assaid belt travels between said drums for grasping cotton tufts as the second belt passes over said third drum,v holding said cotton tufts, and releasing said cotton tufts as V the second belt passes over said fourthdrum,

(1) said fourth drum-positioned relative to said first drum to enable said first belt to grasp cotton tufts as said tufts are released by said second belt, and

(g) means driving said second belt to impart veloc- -ity 'to'said cotton tufts in'adirection tangential to said'first belt as it 'passes over said first drum and grasps said cotton tufts.

trash from V '7 References Cited by the Examiner 7 UNITED STATES-PATENTS ROBERT E. REEVESIActing Primary Examiner. 

1. A COTTON CLEANING SYSTEM, FOR SEPARATING TRASH FROM COTTON TUFTS, COMPRISING: (A) A FIRST AND A SECOND DRUM, (B) A FLEXIBLE GRIPPING BELT, MOUNTED OVER SAID DRUMS, OF THE TYPE HAVING TRANSVERSE SOLTS THEREIN, SAID TRANSVERSE SLOTS ADAPTED TO OPEN AS SAID BELT TRAVELS OVER SAID DRUMS AND TO CLOSE AS SAID BELT TRAVELS BETWEEN SAID DRUMS FOR GRASPING SAID COTTON TUFTS AS THE BELT PASSES OVER SAID FIRST DRUM, HOLDING SAID COTTON TUFTS, SAID RELEASING SAID COTTON TUFTS AS THE BELT PASSES OVER SAID SECOND DRUM, (C) MEANS, OTHER THAN SAID BELT, ROTATING AT LEAST ONE OF SAID DRUMS, (D) A THIRD DRUM ADJACENT SAID BELT AS A POSITION RADIALLY OF SAID DRUM AND HAVING AN AXIAL PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF SAID FIRST DRUM, AND (E) MEANS ROTATING SAID THIRD DRUM TO IMPACT VELOCITY TO SAID COTTON TUFTS AND TRASH IN A DIRECTION TANGENTIAL TO SAID FIRST DRUM AS SAID TUFTS AND TRASH CONTACT SAID BELT PASSING OVER SAID FIRST DRUM AND SAID BELT GRASPS SAID COTTON TUFTS. 